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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23783194">The Day Before</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeliniErastis/pseuds/SeliniErastis'>SeliniErastis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Space (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:21:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,026</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23783194</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeliniErastis/pseuds/SeliniErastis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gary Goodspeed accepts a heist so he can get what he has ever wanted. Now, nothing can stop him from achieving his dream. Or so he thought....</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Day Before</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gary didn’t really like to work with teams, much less when it was time to train a new member of the gang. Specially when it came to such a heist: they were inside the New York’s third richest man’s manor, about to steal his money and some incriminating files.</p><p>The team was led by Gary, veteran heister; Aaron, an expert hacker; and Rufus, a newbie that had participated in just two small robberies before.</p><p>“Can you open this, Goodspeed?” asked Aaron, in front of the massive and heavy-looking metallic door.</p><p>“It’s not so easy, dude. This is an ORG-87! It’s one of the best security systems in the galactic quadrant. This takes time! You gotta let the artist find the inspiration in their muse! You didn’t rush Da Vinci or Van Gogh or-”.</p><p>“How long will it take?” asked Aaron, with faint annoyance.</p><p>“It could take a whole hour to open it, if you are lucky. But when you are the best and most handsome robber in the world…” said Gary, making a pause to hear the beeping from his hacking device, “just a minute is more than enough” he said with a cheeky voice, blowing the top of his finger as if it was a just-fired gun.</p><p>The metal door moved aside, allowing the burglars to step inside.</p><p>“No way!” yelled Rufus, prompting Gary to shush him.</p><p>“You are going to kill us, idiot!” said Aaron, restraining him and covering his mouth.</p><p>“I thought they were discontinued! I loved those!” said Rufus, escaping from Aaron’s arms and walking towards the vending machine in the corner.</p><p>“Why is there a vending machine with Cheesy Puks in this millionaire’s safe?” asked Aaron. “I heard they were made out of humans”.</p><p>“He loves them. He bought all the remaining Cheesy Puks and saved them for him, the greedy bastard. Anyone would say they are even more important then what we came to get”</p><p>In the center of the room stood a slim computer on top of a small pillar. The screen emitted a blue light and displayed a single flashing line, waiting for instructions. Aaron took his hacking device out of his utility belt.</p><p>“Is the security for this thing disabled?” asked Aaron.</p><p>“I deactivated every system of the ORG-87, you are safe to download those sweet digital bucks” said Gary with pride.</p><p>“Alright, I’m finished” said Aaron after two minutes of hacking. But as soon as he put his device back in his belt, the alarm went off. The lights in the vault went red and a siren blared loudly. “You said you had deactivated the alarm!” he recriminated to Gary.</p><p>“I did! Everything in this room was-“.</p><p>A crunch. A crunch interrupted the discussion. When Aaron and Gary looked to their side, they found Rufus eating a bag of Cheesy Puks besides the vending machine, now with a broken glass.</p><p>“I guess that had a different security system” said Gary.</p><p>“I’m gonna kill you, you fucking idiot” yelled Aaron charging towards Rufus.</p><p>“Wait! The door!” warned Gary. The door started to close, threatening with locking them inside, just ready for the police to enter and arrest them or shoot them in sight.</p><p>The trio of robbers ran for the exit, barely escaping their confinement. They ran through the hall until reaching the mansion’s library, where the secret entrance for the vault was. They made it back to the manor’s halls but were stopped when they saw and heard the guards coming from the other side.</p><p>“They are gonna get us! They are gonna kill us!” said Rufus with panic.</p><p>“They are not killing you before I do!” said Aaron. He then shot one of the windows to break it and escape from there.</p><p>They were now in one of the gardens, with mutant guard dogs coming after them. They made it to the wall and activated their Boost Boots to escape flying, but Rufus’s boots didn’t work.</p><p>“Help me! Oh gosh, help me! They are gonna maul me!” pleaded Rufus.</p><p>“Let him! We have to deliver this, Gary!” said Aaron.</p><p>Gary, however, stopped for a second and looked back at him. The dogs had him cornered and were approaching slowly, while the guards had already appeared in the garden and were coming after Rufus. Gary couldn’t stand to even imagine what would happen and despite his companion’s complaints, he flew down at full speed and swiped Rufus off from the ground, carrying him to safety.</p><p>“Thank you, Gary! Thank you very much! I owe you my life!”.</p><p>“Why did you save him? He’s the reason this heist almost got busted!” reclaimed Aaron as they flew towards their safehouse.</p><p>“He would have rat-ed on us. Better keep him with us and pay him for his silence, right?” said Gary, putting his gun on Rufus’s head.</p><p>“Sure! Sure!” said Rufus.</p><p>Gary didn’t say it, but he couldn’t stand seeing a man die, much less a man he was in charge of. He was the operation’s leader, he was responsible for this man’s life. And even if he was an idiot, he was still a life.</p><p>When they reached the safehouse, Rufus stopped Gary before entering.</p><p>“Just so you know, Gary… I would have never told on you” he said, trying to gain his sympathy.</p><p>“Dude…” said Gary, smiling and putting a hand on Rufus’s shoulder. “I don’t trust you, at all. If I was stuck in a spaceship with you and a rat, and I mean a literal rat! One of those fuzzy little rats that live in the sewers! And there was only one single piece of cheese left to eat and I had to go out of the ship to… I don’t know, fix a panel or something… I would lock the rat and the piece of cheese in the same room as far away from you as possible!” said Gary, with varying degrees of tone and flashy movements before entering into the safehouse.</p><p>Gary joined Aaron as he was talking with their boss.</p><p>“Nice job, guys! The person who ordered this heist will be pleased” said their boss with a mischievous grin. “Here are your shares”.</p><p>Gary grinned widely as he received the suitcase. This was probably the biggest amount he had ever earned for a job. He would be able to pay rent even months ahead. But specially, he was finally able to buy what he had wanted the most for his whole life.</p><p>When he woke up the next morning, he paid the due rent of his place, his current rent and the next one, just to be sure. He went outside and had a warm breakfast for once (cereal, although delicious, was starting to mess up his stomach).</p><p>He bought a new brown jacket, very similar to one his father owned. He felt a shiver as he stepped out of the store wearing it: it wasn’t his father’s but it still was enough to feel him close again, to feel the warmth of his presence and his words with him. Besides, he looked very handsome with it and he couldn’t stop looking at himself in the reflective apparels of the stores along the street. It gave him the look of a daring space captain.</p><p>He took a deep breath as he reached the city’s downtown. It was time to buy the thing he really wanted to have, the reason why he agreed to the heist of the previous night. As he approached the booth with the big bright lights in it, his heart started racing.</p><p>
  <em>‘SPACE TOURS! TRAVEL THROUGH THE GALAXY IN A SPACE CRUISER FOR 3 WEEKS!’.</em>
</p><p>This is what Gary had dreamed of since he was a kid: space adventures. He promised it to his father, bunches and bunches of them. But life for little Gary had been far from even decent. Pushed to the street life from a young age, he had to find daily ways to survive. It was until he joined a few criminal gangs that his life became at least bearable. But even then, he felt hollow, unsatisfied. This wasn’t the life he asked for nor the one he wanted. He dreamed of a big heist, one that could one day free him and let him embark in his own adventure, light years away from his past. And it finally became a reality: his robbery at the Solomon manor had given him enough money to make his dream come true. Just a few steps more towards the booth and-</p><p>“Excuse me, sir” a little voice interrupted Gary’s fantasies of laser guns, jungle planets, and beautiful hot gals and handsome hot pals awaiting his triumphant return to his own space ship. “Can you give me money? I’m very hungry”.</p><p>Gary looked down and gazed at the girl with her hand extended towards him. She was begging for money. Gary knew about it. Her clothes looked dirty and even torn in some places. He knew about it, he knew it could be a trap. He put his hands inside the pockets of his jacket, making sure his money was still there. He looked at the girl and then around him. Kids who used this kind of tactic were always betrayed by their lack of expertise and their excess of eagerness. Nobody was peeking behind a boot, or a post or a trash bin. However, he saw a group of children, in an alley far away. They looked like her: scrawny, small, dirty, scared.</p><p>His heart felt down to his stomach. He remembered what it was like. Spending days without eating, with no shelter from the rain, the cold wind getting to your bones. Gary felt trapped in it again, the memories swirling around him, feeling dizzy from it. He shook himself out of that state only to notice the little girl walking away, probably assuming his silence was his way of ignoring her.</p><p>A ringing took him out of the trance. The space tourism booth was announcing its last three tickets. Gary’s smile that came from that faded away a second after. His heart was beating so strongly he could feel it against his chest. His dream was just a few steps away from him. Yet, he was thinking of something else. Those kids weren’t trying to rob him, they weren’t even trying to rob anyone. They were trying to survive, just like him so many years ago, with so many nights wishing for someone to have mercy for him.</p><p>“One day, dad” he said, looking at the booth one last time before walking away.</p><p>Gary approached the kids in the alley and gave them a warm smile.</p><p>“Hey there, kiddos” he said, waiving a wade of money, “are you hungry? I know a good burgers place near here”.</p><p>After feeding them, take them out for groceries and some good clothes, he went back home. His pockets felt lighter and the space tourism booth was closed for several hours now. He was resting on his bed, looking absentmindedly at the TV, wondering if his dad would be smiling at him from wherever he was at. But he thought that was a dumb question, of course John would be happy.</p><p>Suddenly, something in the TV called his attention. They were announcing the recovery of the Luz de Luna diamond, lost a few years ago after his latest owner, the astronaut John Goodspeed, died. They were going to exhibit at the New York’s Metropolitan Museum.</p><p>“That’s the diamond dad put in-“. His voice trailed off. He didn’t want to remember her but that diamond definitely was the one in her ring, the one John made her return after he kicked her out.</p><p>At the same time, he received a text message from his boss. He demanded him to be present at his place to talk about the diamond’s robbery. Gary frowned and smiled.</p><p>“Sorry boss, but this is personal. That diamond is technically mine! It can be my new ticket to adventure!” he said with renewed hopes, laughing with pride. “Not even you and your crew can surpass the fabled Gary Goodspeed! That sweet shiny baby is coming back home”.</p>
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